Starter for gas engines



Patented June 9, 1925.

UNITED STATESk HARRY WILLIAMKGAULD, OF BRANDON, MANITOBA, CANADA.

STARTER FOR GAS ENGINES.

Application mea october 1a. 1921. serial No. 507,521.

To all whom may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY IVILLIAM GAULD, a citizen `of Canada, residingat Brandon, in the Province of Manitoba, Canada, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements inV Starters for Gras Engines, of which thevfollowing is a specification.

My invention is Ain relation to gas engines and the object thereof is tosupply a simple and efficient mechanism comprising a quietly engagingandnonwheel damaging .starter and engine cooperation eliminating the heavyexpense of new fly-wheels and theV aftermath, if they happen to beinstalled by incompetent or carelessworkmen, because a vast majority ofgas engine fly-wheels in use have a goodly portion of thevteeth wornaway opposite the starter pinion where they habitually stop because ofengine compression and consequently where theyv most often receive theimpact and twist of the pinion and where they finally willv disappear.

Using general terms, my starter comprises a .motor of any kind, as forinstance, an electric motor' ableto operate a rotatable, threadeddriving member, either its armature shaft extended and adapted, oranother driven by it and adapted to cooperate with the teeth on theperiphery or some smaller diameter of the fly-wheel or some other wheeldriven by the engine, the said driving member being arranged to bemanually advanced into cooperative position with the engine wheel andautomatically'expelled therefrom when the engine starts. In connectionwith this construction I use a push and pull button ended rod on theinstrument board, in the case of an automobile, for the manualengagement of the driving member, theopposite motion of this rod toretard the spark and operate the switch of the starting motor andincidentally doing away withthe floor button. l

In the drawings, Figure l is a sectional elevation of a starting motorshowing one of the ways of installing a jointed base capable of allowingthe rocking motion to the driving member necessary to the device.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of part of my invention showing theformation of the driving member and of the member to be 'lriven in theoperation of starting the engine, but a section of the latter beingemployed.

Figure 3 is a sectional elevation of parts, some of which are not new,that I make no claims for, and for thatreason and for the sake ofclearness have here disassociated them from the rest.

The first two figures are looking from' the fly-wheelforward, the thirdis .looking crosswise of the engine from the left sideto the right.Similar reference char acters refer to similar parts in the differentfigures.

Describing the construction shown in the drawings, in Figure l thestarting motor is presented mounted on the rocking base (14), on thefly-wheel housing (l0), enabling it to have the rocking motion necessaryto the device.

In Figure 2, the engine wheel which is here intended either as thefly-wheel or a wheel on thesame axis and in thesame plane and inoperative connection with it, is provided on its periphery withsemi-coni cal shaped teeth, the backward side of Vwhich engaging thefore-side of thev engaging members (l) threads and the forward sideengaging the backward side ofthe engaging member (l) threads,` theformer taking o,

place when the starter starts the engine and the latter taking placewhen the env gine starts under its own power and expels the startingmember threads. The end and side thrust is taken care of by the bearing(9), which moves up and down with the driving member it is upon in theslide (5) which is provided with side and end thrust surfaces made inthe casting (6) upon the fly-wheel housing` (10).

The balls, race, and cone of thrust bear-l ing (9) are shown by dottedlines.v .The casting (6) is chambered and contains the inner exposed endof a spring pressed bolt (11), the lower end of a vertically slidingplunger (2) and a pin like'extension of the member (l), the extensionbeing in the path of the plunger and having a cone shaped end, which inthe lswinging movement of the member (l) engages with the coned end ofthe bolt. A set screw is provided for adjustingv the pressure ofthespring. y i

According to the abovearrangement it will be geen, tirarme driving"member 1 is maintained both in and out of engagement with the member 3by the bolt and that the Weight of the motor by virtue of its offsetpivoting vacts 'to augment the 11p-swinging of the member (l) when thesame is foreibly expelled by the teeth of the driving member 3. l

In Figure 3 is shown not the construction of my invention, but theconnection Ibetween the driving compartment and the invention, and theconnection between the invention and the spark distributor which is allhandled inthe description of operation, and to go further here would bea repetition.

Describing ^`the operation of my starter and assuming that shaft (l)Fig. 2 is in disengaged position, fthe first step -by ythe driver islthe engaging of it` which is done by pulling button ended rod (l2),situated i-n a convenient Vplace in the drivingl compartment, i`there-bydepressing control rod (7 by means of bell crank (13) consequentlyplunger (Q), into which rod (7) is screwed causing the drive shaft (l)to take the position shown in the drawing, if not immediately, then upona small fraction of a turn of kthe shaft, and as far as the actualengaging is eoneerned, Without sound.

This done, fthe driving eon'ipartn'ient button is pushed baek as far asit will go, it then has removed plunger (2) from the path of theengaging member 1), plungerl has retarded the spark by means of the endof the eut away portion in it together with the -rbell crank (8) and bymeans of bell crank (8) has later yoperated starter button and switchStarting having taken place, it then freed vthe bell crank (8) and theretarded spark ready for advancement, because of the back pressure 4fromthe switch spring. The driving compartment -button is then a little Wayout and into home position.

vThe above covers the explanation of operation except as to the dualconnection of steering- Wheel quadrant and distributor, which follows:The distributor is self advancing and its control rod divided, that partattached to itself terminating in the saucer-like disc The spark Controlrod (16) from the quadrant butting it, likewise `that from the startercontrol.

I claim:

1. In a lgas engine starter, `the combination ivi-th "a toothed drivenmember associated with Ithe engine, of a toothed driving memberenga-geable with the teeth of the driven member, a motor driving thedrive member, the said motor being pivoted to permit 4of the 4swingingof the drive member towards and away from the driven member, the teethof said members being designed to swingthe dri-vemeinber away from andout of engagement with the driven member upon :the driven memberbecoming a drive member, means for manually engaging Vthe Said members,and means for releasably locking the members in and out of engagement.

2. In a gas engine starter, fthe combination with the engine fly Wheel,said fly Wheel having peripheral ."teeth and the fly Wheel housing7 of adrivingmotor pivotally mount ed on the housing, a drivingVshafteX-tending from the motor and voperated thereby, said shaft beingprovided With driving teeth .in vthe form of a Worm,-the said Wormbeing` engageable with fthe teeth of the xfly Wheel and the said teethof the Worm and the 'fly Wheel being arranged -sueh that kthey remainengaged to effec/t `the driving of the fly Wheel by the motor and forcethemselves out of engagement upon the ffy Wheel be-. Coming the drivingmember under the action of the engine, and means for manually engagingtheiworm initially with the iy Wheel.

In a gas engine starter, the combination with a peripherally tootheddriven member, of a pivotally mounted motor having an eX- tendingdriving shaft positioned. tangentially of the toothed driven `member andfitted With a` Worm engageable with the latter, the 'teeth of the Wormand the driven member being designed such that they hold themselves intoenga-gement When the motor is driving the driven member and forcethemselves out of engagement upon the driven member becoming a drivingmember.

4e. In a gas engine starter, the combination with a peripherally tootheddriven member, of a pivotally mounted motor having an extending drivingshaft positioned tangentiallv ofthe toothed driven member and fittedWith a `vvorm engageable with the latter, the teeth of the Worm and thedriven member being designed such that 4they hold themselves inengagement when 'themotor is driving the driven member and forcethemselves out of engagement upon the driven member becoming a drivingmember, and means for initially engaging the Worm With the drivenmember.

HARRY WILLIAM GAULD.

